News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-05-19
FARM AND GARDEN.
seasonabIe Hints About the Work
to be Done.


TFrom American Agriculturist, May.1
We must remember that the soil in
May is moist, and both crops and weeds,
if we permit them, will get good start,
while crops gotten in late are liable to
be caught by dry weather early in the
summer and may be greatly set back. it
is ordinarily too late to expect good
crops of spring grains, but if the object
be to seed to grass, grass-seed and Glow
er may be sowed alone early IN the
month, on good soil, encouraged by top
dressing.
Corn. Select varieties sure to mature
in a short season. Mixing the seed of
several kinds, ripening at near the same
time, certainly increases the crop. Plant
early, and near or far apart, in proper
ton to the richness of the land, but not
too close.-Roots. 1t will not do to de-
lay sowing parsnips. If it comes hot
they will burn up. Sugar-beets, man
giles and carrots will bear sowing later,
but the crop is hurt. Get as longs sea-
son for roots as possible. On clean
ground fiat culture is admissible, but
where there are many weeds all kinds OF
roots should be sowed on rolled ridges,
over plenty of manure. Potatoes plant
ed in May generally do well; they may
be safely cut to two or three eyes to the
set.-Soilng crops. In some Localities
oats and peas may be sowed. Use any
leafy kind of oats, and if the soil is rich,
Marrowfat peas. They give twice as
good a crop as Canada peas, though
those are best on poor soil. Sow corn
in drills; as a standby sweet corn is the
best. One bushel to the acre will give
best results on rich land, and never put
corn on other-you waste your time.
Repeat sowings.
LIVE STocK NOTES Horses put to
hard work will almost surely show puff
fly spots under the harness, which will
soon make gals if neglected. Lift the
harness and bathe the spots with cold
water when the teams rest, andat even
ing. Make sure that collars, especially,
fit well and are smooth and hard. Cows,
if allowed to Craze in low meadows,
must have other feed besides-both
grain and hay, roots if possible, for
they are likely to scour and get weak,
and the milk gets a taint. Whenever
turned to grass they should have other
food. Sheep may be turned upon bush
pastures where the brush has been cut
off and the stumps are throwing up ten
summer pastures before the grass has q
first rate start Swine.-unless skim
milk is abundant, especial care must be
taken to have young pigs well fed with
bran and grain and kept growing. 1t
will not hurt them if they do have milk,
but setback now is bad for them. If
they have the range of the orchard,
they will destroy many insects in the
larva and pupa states. A little con-
slant extra care will make the difference
of a hundred pounds of pork at Christ
mas. Poultry.-Look out for the vermin;
provide good dusting- boxes; white-wash
roosting places, nest-boxes, ETC., and
give them all the range you can. Re
move chicks and ducks to the artificial
brooders as soon as Matched, always.
ORCHARD AND FRUIT GARDEN.-If the
trees were properly heeled in, planting
may still be continued. Trees in transit
in warm weather may either dry and the
bark become shriveled and heated, and
the buds push out longwhite shoots.
If the trees are shriveled, open trench
large enough to hold them, lay in the
trees, and cover them so that the soil
will come in contact with every branch
and twig; in q week or less the bark will
regain its plumpness. Where the buds
have started prematurely, cut back the
branches to a.dormant end. Plant cut
tings of grape vines, currants, ETC., leav-
ing but one bud at the surface; crowd
the soil hard against the lower end of
the cuttings. Newly planted grape-vines
should bear but single shoot. Layers
of old wood may be made. Watch for
the "currant worm; whenever ragged
leaves appear, syringe with white helle-
bore, tablespoonful of the powder to q
pailful of water; repeat III five days.
Thoroughly weed the strawberry bed
and apply heavy mulch. Currants,
raspberries, and all other fruit bearing
shrubs will be greatly helped by mulch
of straw, bog hay, or other litter. If
fruit is marketed, have boxes, crates,
ETC., ready, and look out for a sufficient
force of pickers. As soon as the small
webs are seen in the trees, remove them.
Daily jarring the plum trees and catch
ing the curculios on sheets, is the only
way to treat this insect.
KITCHEN AND MARKET GARDEN.-The
seed catalogues are now so complete
that we do not need to give the times
for sowing and the distances apart for
the various seeds. In places where
there are late frosts, it is we'll to pro-
tect early sown plants during the night.
Seed beds may be protected by light
shutters of thin boards propped up
above them. Plants in rows-early peas,
the very earliest potatoes, ETC., are read
lily protected by mailing boards together
to form V shaped trough. This is
readily turned over the rows mt night
and in cold days. 1t may be placed to
shield the rows from strong winds i'll
the day time.
New asparagus beds should be very
sparingly cut the second year after
planting. Early wedding is important
with root crops; keep the spaces be-
tween clean by the use of the hand-cul-
tivator in small gardens, and a horse
implement in large ones. Cat the
plants with a sharp hoe, leaving them
in little clusters six or eight inches
apart in the row. These clusters may
be thinned later to leave bat single
plant in a place. Succession crops
should be provided for my sowing spin
ach, lettuce, sweet corn, etc, every week
or ten days. In the scarcity of pea
brush, wire trellis is the best and
mpst cheaply made substitute.